


A Sound So Sweet

by thaccian



Category: Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-17
Updated: 2013-01-17
Packaged: 2017-11-25 21:19:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/643061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thaccian/pseuds/thaccian





	A Sound So Sweet

  Buck was just raising his beer mug when the sound halted his hand so suddenly that the beer sloshed over the rim, splashing against his hand and dripping unnoticed to the table top below. He sat completely still, waiting . . . . waiting to hear the sound again.   His eyes darted around the saloon, taking in the small crowd lazing away the fresh spring day at the card tables, wondering if the startling, barely remembered sound had come from one of them. In mid-deal, Ezra looked up and seeing Buck’s expression raised a quizzical eyebrow. Buck raised a hand to ward off the question forming on Ezra's lips as he pushed back from the table and rose slowly, deliberately, half-raised hand still clutching the beer mug. His narrowed eyes made another sweep of the room, pausing on each face before skipping to the next, looking for any sign that what he thought he heard, hoped he heard, was not mistaken.

The mummer of voices, the clink of coins, the scrape of boots against the floor, the flick of cards coming off the deck, the rumble of wagons passing by outside, and the choking hope of his own heart pounding in anticipation; Buck strained to shut all the noise out, strained and prayed to hear the sound again.  

When the sound repeated, loud and clear, Buck squeezed his eyes closed against the sudden tears that formed, and expelled a sharp breath, a breath he didn't even realize he'd been holding for more than three long years.   Out on the boardwalk in front of the saloon Chris was laughing. Not the dry, brittle, ashy sound of recent years, but the full, rich, easy laugh that Chris had shared with Buck so often in the past. It was the laugh that Buck feared they would never share again; the laugh he feared had been permanently extinguished in the dying embers of a fire and a family.   Chris was laughing, and the unexpected sweetness of the sound released a flood of memories from the dark corner Buck had shoved them into years ago. The sudden release of long-held tension and sadness made him light-headed and giddy. He put a shaking hand to his forehead, covering his eyes as tears of joy slid down his cheeks and curved themselves into the upturned corners of the broad grin that spread across his face.

In a moment he'd go out to see what had brought this miracle about, but for now he just wanted to listen and to revel in the fact that it was spring, and he had good friends nearby, and Chris was laughing.

 

29 March 2011  
edited 17 Jan 2013


End file.
